Dr. Astrid Heiberg, president of the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies toured North Korea and,
in a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, stressed the dire
situation facing North Korean children, "Unless the country
receives help soon, it is in danger of losing its young population,"
she said.

At the same time, US Congressman Tony Hall, widely
regarded as a famine expert, spent five days touring Pyongyang,
Sariwon, Chongjin, Sinuiju, Hamhung and other cities across
the northern part of the Korean peninsula. Representative Hall
reported that when he visited a food distribution center, which
also had some factory facilities, he didn't find any real food,
but only "substitute foods". "What they do is
grind these weeds and corn stalks into powder and make noodles
out of it," he said, adding that grass and corn stalks
are indigestible. Hall showed photos he took in North Korea
in which a 10-year old boy was 12 inches shorter than what he
should be. Villagers in rural areas who are desperate for food
have also been reported to boil tree bark and make a bitter-tasting
soup out of it.

A local aid agency conducted a survey, the most thorough
of its kind, of over 1000 "food refugees" who risked
their lives to cross the China/North Korea border in search
of food for their families. The interviews revealed a consistent
and tragic picture of desperate conditions in which a typical
North Korean family loses from 20-30% of its members to famine-related
conditions.